


Clandestiny

by OtakuAngelD



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Fic Exchange, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 20:56:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1278544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtakuAngelD/pseuds/OtakuAngelD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years away from tennis, Atobe runs into Inui, who becomes his personal trainer and then something far more personal</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a Fanfiction Exchange. The Prompt, Atobe and Inui, Clandestine Affairs

He lay there, warmth surrounding him. The familiar comforting weight of an arm draped over his side like a blanket. When he paid attention to it, his lower back still throbbed, a pleasant reminder of the passion he and his partner had shared just hours earlier. Now, his lover slept next to him. He turned slightly and his lips quirked into a small fond smirk. His lover seemed so contented and he wanted to just lie in bed a little longer within those long arms. However, Keigo knew that eventually, he had to leave them and return to his own home. And each time, it got a little harder to do so. Each time he rolled over and looked upon that sleeping face, his will to continue on like this faded away a little more. 

He knew he would have to leave. Hopefully, he could go before the other woke. When the man did so, it made it so difficult to go. He always felt like a cad. The man he nestled against deserved more than just sneaking around when he had the time on his schedule to do so. He knew that he should forget about the man his legs were entangled with. Except he knew that was impossible. When he was at his office, dealing with this contract or that, his mind often drifted back to these quiet moments. While he should be concentrating on what the board of directors was saying about his prospect of future wives, he was picturing those intelligent green eyes finally revealed from behind thick glasses and long fingers that knew just how to touch him. Those heady memories kept him coming back to this man again and again. This man who challenged him and questioned him and used his cool logic to sometimes even beat him at his own game. Even if he knew he should leave, he couldn’t. No one could replace the man slumbering peacefully next to him.

He chuckled quietly, trying not to wake the man, fingertip moving to lightly trace over the slight smile upon his lover’s face. A smile he wore, even though they had to remain a secret. They had to keep it this way. It was simply better for the both of them that it continued on like this. Truly, Inui was a marvel, for putting up with this as long as he had. Sometimes, he wondered what the man got from this arrangement. Even thinking back to the beginning, Keigo really couldn’t figure it out.


	2. Chapter 1

Meetings were always a bit tedious. It was mostly because it wasn’t something he chose to do. It was a fallacy to think that he could do whatever he liked. Yes, he was THE Atobe Keigo, but he could only do whatever he wanted for so long. Even back in Junior High, he had known deep down that the life of a Tennis Professional would never be for him. He could only avoid his responsibilities for so long. Real life would eventually encroach on his life of freedom and opulence. Eventually, his father would demand that he quit doing pointless time wasting things and start focusing on taking over the company. Being the Atobe Heir meant a life of luxury and privilege with a hefty price to pay later on. That price was that of no future other than the one already laid out for him. After tennis the only thing before him would be business school, board meetings, arranged marriage, and then an heir of his own in order to start the vicious cycle all over again. 

It was this solid and inescapable future that had caused him to take such intense interest and please in tennis back in the day. He had done so many other things as a child; fencing, horseback riding, learning languages; each a fleeting pursuit that he mastered through hard work and a drive to succeed as the Atobe could never fail. He had ruled them all with the grace and poise and flamboyance of a king. And why should he not? He was a king. Perhaps not royalty by terms of title, but by the mass of wealth and prestige that followed him wherever he went. Then he found tennis. Tennis brought him a challenge. There were other boys his own age who were just as good as he, who worked just as hard as he. They did not care that he was the Atobe heir. They merely cared that he was master of the singles court and a force to be reckoned with. Had he not already had a future set before him, Atobe probably would have continued with tennis, following after the likes of Tezuka and Echizen, taking the world by storm. A part of him lied to himself and said that one day he might still do so. Even if he knew that would never be the case. 

He had hoped the time would not come as soon as it had. In his last year of high school, leading his team to nationals once again, Atobe’s father had a heart attack. He had not survived. His mother had been devastated by the loss and spent her time mourning in Paris. The loss left the Atobe Corporation scrambling desperately to survive without its director. The death also became a catalyst that forced him to quit tennis. He couldn’t keep his promise to Tezuka and follow him to the pros. He couldn’t lead his team to victory. He played his last match in the semi-finals and graciously bowed out; stunning the tennis world. He put his racket and shoes away, locked in a back closet in the furthest rooms in the most unraveled wing of his summer manor so that he could not be reminded of that which he had lost. He went to the college his father’s name got him into, studied the classes he was told to study, and made the valiant attempt to put that life behind him. He wasn’t into tennis anymore. He was the new head of the Atobe Corporation and his new court would be boardrooms and his new opponents would be lawyers and businessmen. His life became classes and studying. His late father would never forgive not being valedictorian of his graduating class. 

He had graduated in record time and taken his place at the head of the Atobe Corporation at the tender age of 23. Now, he had even less time to think of tennis. As head of the company, he had far more important things to think of. He had meetings and contracts. He had employees and payrolls. He had clients and stockholders. He had dinners and charity auctions. He had a little black book with his schedule with every hour of the day accounted for. He had to schedule in sleeping and eating or he would never get any. Even then, he often worked well into scheduled sleeping hours.

At 25, he had almost completely forgotten about tennis until Atobe Sports had opened a new gymnasium and sporting arena. Everything in his life had neatly fallen into place until the moment he went by the gym and heard the sound of sneakers squeaking over the floor and the sound of a little yellow ball bouncing. It was nostalgic and painful as the song of a siren calling a sailor to his death.

Keigo was drawn to the gym as surely as he would to the latest in designer suits. Sharp blue eyes darted watching the ball and the players. They were decent. Merely decent. He had been spoiled. Even after years of not playing he was certain that if he stood on the court the winner would be himself. He would awe them with his magnificence. He would….

“You would lose 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9.” Came the dry voice behind him. Keigo turned and was forced to look up and up some more. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes but the owner of the voice continued, strictly factual and utterly merciless. “You’ve not kept up with your physical training. Your muscle mass has diminished by 32%. Your stamina needs reworked as well, by how much I’d have to observe further. I can say with 100% certainty that would be the outcome in your current state.” And that was how he re-met Inui Sadaharu.

He remembered the tall man as a gangly socially awkward youth. He knew of him only because he paid a great deal of attention to other schools and their teams. Hyotei would be the winner and it seemed the secret to a great deal of Seigaku’s success had been this man’s training menus. The data tennis player with the god-awful juice that even Atobe had had the displeasure of once tasting. He remembered him as too tall, too skinny, and terribly nerdy looking with a dead hedgehog for hair and glasses that were too thick to see through. He remembered the boy from the yakiniku eating debacle and the misfortune he had caused upon himself because he wanted to taste the data that Keigo had and no one else possessed. He had never gotten that data. He seemed to have all the other data that the heir possessed though.

He never enjoyed being spoken to in such a way. He didn’t believe in being told he couldn’t do something. If he wanted to he could beat those amateurs on the court and he didn’t need some tall statistics monkey telling him otherwise. He was certain the dataman could tell because he was leveling his very best freezing cold stare at the other man. Over the years, Atobe had mastered the ability to look down at people much much taller than him. The business world had transformed the ability into an art. He pursed his lips together angrily for a moment before speaking back, tone as cold as his gaze. He was the frozen king on the lonely inaccessible mountain. “I’ll have you know that I am more than capable of taking them on.” He went on to boast with the self-same confidence that had gotten his perfect blond hair shaved, “At the same time.” Perhaps he hadn’t learned his lesson but his pride was always his greatest weakness but also his greatest strength.

It reminded him of his first day at Hyotei. Once again, he walked onto a tennis court and picked up a racket. It felt natural in his hands, an extension of him. He could feel the eyes upon him from behind those thick glasses. He would show this know-it-all why one never judged Atobe Keigo. Even with only the one set of eyes in the audience, he still went through the spectacle. In his heart and in his head he could hear the cheer. The winner would be Hyotei. The winner would be Atobe. “The winner will be me.” His commanding snap in the air called for silence and awe. After years of being away from the court he was back to rule for just one day.

It had taken one too many sets to get back into the feel of it, but those intelligent eyes were upon him. He had something to prove. By the time he was done he was sweating and exhilarated. He never wanted it to end but all matches finally had to; even if he honestly wanted to drag them out forever. Even if his legs wanted to give out and all he wanted to do was sit he managed to walk off the court and towards the man. Once there, he looked up once again with that steely gaze, trying to look not at all as breathless as he actually was. His smirk slid upon his lips. “Be awed by my prowess.” He brushed past Inui towards the cooler air outside leaving the man inside to adjust his glasses and his numbers.


	3. Chapter 2

It had been a mistake to pick up a racket again. That night he sat at his desk in his home office unable to sleep. This in itself was normal for him. But what filled his head was not work. It was not the latest contract to look through; it was that cool, deep logical voice. It cut through everything else, a cold, harsh realization that he refused to admit to while in sight of someone who had seen him at his greatest. Though he had won, he had to admit that Inui had been right. He had grown weaker. He was no longer Atobe Keigo, the Ice King, the lord of the long match. He had struggled too much on a match that never would have given him troubles five years ago. He could concentrate on nothing else but the emptiness he felt whenever he thought too long about tennis.

Sleep abandoned him. He couldn’t concentrate at work. The next day had found him more tired than usual, returning to that gym he had just opened. He didn’t know what he was hoping to find there. Perhaps answers to the emptiness he still felt. Perhaps the courage to leave this confining life, tell his company directors where to go so that he could blaze a new pathway for himself. What he didn’t want to find was the dataman sitting just outside the gym with a green notebook in hand, pen scribbling madly upon the pages. He didn’t even look up to acknowledge the presence before him even as he spoke. “I knew there was at least a 75% chance that if I waited here long enough, you would come by again.” 

Atobe scoffed, quite loudly. “Only 75% today, ahn?” How long had the man been waiting for him? For what purpose? He didn’t play tennis anymore. Couldn’t play anymore. If the board members found out…

“I have been waiting for 4 hours 22 minutes 16...17...18 seconds. I knew you would be here because you can’t let it go. You still love it. The mighty king has fallen low, but I can help raise him to glory.” Atobe wondered if Inui thought those grandiose words would impress him. There was a sound of tearing and Inui stood to once more tower over the blond heir. “Based on my observations and previous data I consulted last night, I have concocted a training menu for you. If you follow it not only will you return to your former standards you will improve on them by a factor of 10.3.” Long fingertip brushed his as the paper was handed over.

Elegant eyebrows drew down into a grimace, his hand tightening around the paper. The crumpling of the paper sounded a great deal like the sound of his frozen heart, crackling and balling tighter. “How dare you! I never asked for your help. I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help.” He threw the sheet on the ground before Inui to make his point before pivoting on his heels, back stiff. He knew the other was right but his pride and the pain of knowing no matter how hard he worked, he would never, ever, be able to get what he wanted. His grave was already dug. He just had to lie in it. “Stop assuming you know everything about me. You don’t.”

That calm clear voice cut through his rage. “Atobe Keigo. The youngest director and CEO of Atobe Cooperation. Only child of the late Atobe Hirohito. Director and major stockholder of the Atobe Corporation. Subsidiaries in 22 counties with work in everything from technology to securities to sports and leisure. Born in England, raised in England until junior high. Self-appointed king of Hyotei. Relationship status: single. Estimated net worth…” 

He turned to see the man with his notebook out, reading off the page. Once more, his annoyance built. All those facts about him…only they weren’t about him. They were about what he did and what his family did. It wasn’t who he was. This was just another person who could not look past the Atobe name. “Just stop.” He ordered. Now he knew why Tezuka had always just hung up on the man. He didn’t have that luxury. “You listen to me and you listen well.” Atobe’s tone was what he took when he was addressing misbehaving staff or Yuushi when he was being a little too unruly. Hard but exasperated. “I no longer am interested in tennis.” It was a bald-faced lie and even though he hadn’t used in Insight in forever, he could see the other man planning on calling him on it so he pushed on quickly. “It was a child’s game for childish people. There is no point in playing. There’s no real future in it. It’s a distraction and for adults distractions must be put aside.” He knew it was true. Yet, why was his hand shaking at his side? Why couldn’t he fully detach?

The notebook closed again and slender fingers pushed up the rim of those concealing glasses. “90.3 percent likelihood that you don’t believe what you are saying yourself.” Inui replied silently. “It is also same chance that after I leave you will return to pick up what you’ve thrown away. So let’s just save a step and cut out the needless drama and just accept that I’m right. It won’t hurt you just to look at the menu.” With what seemed like infinite patience and logical calmness the dataman leaned down to pick up that piece of paper and start smoothing it out so that he could hand it back.

The corner of his eye twitched slightly. He had to leave before he did something foolish. Quickly, as he fled, using a sudden meeting as an excuse, he snatched the paper up. He would just throw it away later. As he left towards his waiting car, he heard the deep voice call out, “Your first meeting today isn’t until noon. I’ve taken your schedule into account already. Also, I will be waiting here for you tomorrow. We’ll start then.” The voice just spurred him away faster, not wishing to know how Inui knew his schedule and how he was so damn confident that he would be there the next day. Confidence was Atobe’s realm, not the dataman’s.


	4. Chapter 3

“I admit it.” He grated out. Eating glass would have been easier. “You were right.” He paused and then made sure to add “This time.” Morning saw Keigo at the gym, designer jogging suit on, looking good despite the fact that he was about to go for a rather intensive workout with the sadist who had created the training menu he had read over the night before. A menu he hadn’t thrown away. After one look at it, that he took seriously. Even if he had troubles admitting it, Seigaku’s former dataman knew what to target and work on. The man would be an amazing personal trainer some day if he wasn’t so enamored with useless facts as well. “But if we’re going to do this, we’re going by my rules, ahn?”

The man in the green track pants and white tee just stood there and consulted his notebook once more. “You won’t be late.” He informed, “And as the CEO you have the luxury of setting and keeping your own hours. If you are late no one will think anything of it.”

He crossed his arms and tapped his foot as he waited for the other to be done. “You assume too much. The rules are as follows. I do this because I want. I stop when I want. If I stop you leave me alone for good. And,” his voice pitched low and secretive. “no one must never learn about this.” Because he was supposed to be done with that silly little sport of his and concentrating on the future of the company. “If I find that anyone has been told, I will personally destroy you. I will make it so that you and your entire family will never make it in Japan or any other country we have a foothold in. You will have to go live with the Sherpa in Tibet.” He didn’t think Inui would have to consult his data to know that he was indeed very capable of carrying that threat out into reality.

Inui sighed and adjusted his glasses a little. “Understood. Despite my enjoyment of information this can be our secret. I can keep secrets.”

“Wonderful. Then I have a piece of paper for you.” Because of his late father and because of the business it had been reinforced that if it didn’t get written down it never happened. He had spent his night after the reading of the menu drafting up a legal contract. “Just sign here. And here. And initial here.” He pointed to each space with a perfectly manicured fingertip. “Then we can begin.” He didn’t expect for the other man to sign it. Most would have taken a look at the contract and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble yet Inui was following his instructions and signing.

“We will meet here every day. I will have new menus for you to follow as you complete and master the tasks on this one. Along with that I will also work on a nutritional guide for you so that you can have the maximum calories you will need to not only do the training but go to classes after. I will have that for you by next session. For now though, we need to focus on stretching.”

Thus, their training began. Inui’s large warm hands spread slightly against Atobe’s back, a gentle but firm stroke before lightly pushing down with enough pressure to help him stretch more. Stretching soon moved on to jogging, Atobe stubbornly refusing to be lead, despite the fact that for every one stride Inui made, he had to make two in order to keep up. Even more, instead of merely keeping up, he pushed ahead, always making certain that he was just in front. He was a leader, not a follower. After the run was swing practice, as if he was a child learning the sport all over again, the dry voice of reason observing the minutest change in his positioning or grip out loud to the point that Keigo wanted to pull a Higa and Rondo Inui into silence with a ball to the head.

“Atobe, change the angle another 32 degrees and use more follow-through.” “Atobe, that serve puts too much strain on your arm. Perhaps with the right application of more spin, you might feel 43 percent less fatigue after a few uses.” “Atobe, your approach to net was .5 seconds too slow.” It was enough to drive a man insane. It grated on the nerves that some pencil pusher with a notebook could be so critical and nitpicky about his tennis. He wasn’t some idiot with only two years of tennis experience. He had been a captain! His insight was at such a level he could see the very way the joints and bones moved. His play was elegant and refined. It couldn’t be boiled down into numbers and statistics! His tennis was his and he had spent many years perfecting it. Even if he had allowed himself to backslide a little, his body still remembered it. His heart still remembered it.

“Atobe, I think that’ll be it for today.” And somehow when he reached the height of his annoyance and frustration, the other man suddenly called time, as if he knew the CEO was at the end of his rope. “Please be certain to rest properly. I will compile the data from today.” He would then leave the taller boy hunched over that ridiculous notebook while he went to take a shower before his trip to the office.


	5. Chapter 4

That became their routine. Each morning, before anyone was up, Atobe would sneak out and go to meet with his personal trainer. It was such a routine that he barely noticed when it slowly started to change. He picked up only a little of the subtle differences at first. Inui’s notebook was a different color. Inui wasn’t writing as feverishly as before. The keen, cutting, factual observations started to slow. Inui stopped training from the sidelines and started to step on the court across from him, feeding him balls. Inui started joining him in the showers after, his lanky frame one head over. He couldn’t figure out when it changed, just that it had. He wondered if it was perhaps because the taller man was aware that this arrangement would eventually have to come to an end. Mostly due to the fact that he was doing what he had all his academic life, and working himself to death and he couldn’t keep up with the training schedule and his work schedule. As it was, he was down to four hours of sleep at night. Or less. But he couldn’t care less. Once more, tennis had become his outlet and this man had become a very small bit of sanity in his vastly busy and incredibly insane life. Keigo even looked forward to their meetings now because he could get away from the crushing responsibility and share a moment of true happiness with someone who understood.

He didn’t notice until the day that Inui was not there. He knew that the other man had his own life. The genius was some sort of doctor from what he had gleaned from conversations while they ran or stretched together. However, thus far, the other man had been there at the gym every day. Every single day without fail, he would arrive to Inui waiting there for him. The day he wasn’t present, Keigo stood near their meeting spot, racket bag in hand, and frowned. He stood, and then he sat. Sitting had been a mistake. Atobe’s busy schedule meant that he didn’t get much rest. Motionless for too long, he ended up passed out against the wall, racket clutched in his arms, deep frown upon his face.

He woke to a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. He opened his eyes slowly and frowned deeper. It hadn’t been this dark when he closed his eyes. What time was it anyway? “And just where were you?” He grumbled the last part out loud. A cold angry glare was much weaker with sleep hazed eyes. He attempted to stand but his legs wouldn’t support him. “I waited for you.” He couldn’t get up, his legs weren’t working properly. He was just too exhausted to move. “I never wait for anyone.” He crossed his arms and, ironically, waited for the response. Only he knew that he would accept no excuse. He wouldn’t accept it from a member of the staff if they made him wait. He wasn’t about to let his secret personal trainer slide.

He continued to glare as a hand went out to offer him help up. He knocked it away as if he actually wanted to be on the ground. He wasn’t weak. He wasn’t tried. He just wanted to stay seated and wait for a reply. “You waited for me. That was unexpected. I had predicted that you would not be in any shape for practice today so I did not come because I was certain that after a half hour you would leave. Once again you have altered my data significantly.”

Atobe huffed. “Not in any shape? Of course I am. I’m fine. I‘ve never felt better in my life,” He wasn’t. He knew it but he wasn’t about to let someone tell him otherwise. He would be fine.

The man crouched in front of him and adjusted his glasses. “Not counting today, when was the last time you slept? By my calculations, your last full night of sleep was most likely a week and a half ago. And when did you last eat? Not a dinner party where you barely get anything because you’re constantly interrupted.” 

The line of Keigo’s lips tightened into an even darker frown. How did Inui know these things? Was he stalking him? Or was he that predictable? And why was Inui swaying like that? Why was the world swaying like that? He silently ordered for it to stop. It didn’t obey. That annoyed Atobe even more. “I said I’m fine.” He insisted, finally resorting to using the wall to stand up. It was a mistake. The blood rushed to his head in an instant and suddenly his world went very black. He could remember pitching forward before he returned to blissful nothingness.


	6. Chapter 5

It was not his bed. That was his first thought when he came to. It was followed shortly by wondering where he had been taken. The last thing he remembered, he had been about to read Inui Sadaharu the riot act about staying out of his business when he had toppled over. That meant one of two things. Either the taller man had brought him to a hospital, which would mean a bevy of reporters and tabloid photojournalists outside waiting for him, questioning his ability to take over his father’s place at such a young age. Or he had been taken somewhere else. He didn’t hear hospital noises. Just the swift clacking of computer keys as nimble fingers typed away. He groaned slightly, feeling the start of a massive headache from getting rest via a physical collapse. One blue eye opened, then the other.

It had to be Inui’s room. If the computers with all sorts of data crossing the screen hadn’t alerted him to that, the library of little green notebooks and the half dozen glasses cases would have. He attempted to focus a little more on the back of that spiky black hair. The headache grew larger. He went to sit up and felt the sheets fall off his chest. It took another moment to realize his normal clothing was missing. Instead he was in green track pants that were too long and a tee-shirt that swamped him. His headache became a migraine, spurred on by the sudden intense anger at such a personal violation. “How dare you.” He wanted to say. Instead, he could only curl up for a moment and suffer.

The fingers stopped typing and the chair swiveled around so that the taller man was facing him. “You’re awake, I see. I would have thought you’d stay out for a lot longer than that.”

Keigo growled into the pillow. “Not so loud.” Was he feeling better, he would have lit into the other man. Demanded to know why he was there and where his clothing went to. He didn’t And then he would hope that Inui had a great lawyer, because he would need it. “And you think too much. Always assuming everything about me like you know me. Stop it.” Even if most of the time those assumptions were halfway true.

He heard the sound of the chair rolling across the room towards him. He wanted to smack Inui in the face with the pillow, but moving would have hurt his head more. Instead, he just did what he did best, gave the other the cold shoulder. “And hand me my third cellphone.” He needed to call a ride. He also needed to get out of there. He needed for his migraine to go away. He needed…

“No. Now roll over and take some of these.”

Atobe rolled, not because he was ordered but because he had just been told no. No one told him no. No one. It just wasn’t done. People did not deny Atobe Keigo what he wanted. If he wanted his cellphone and a ride home, he should get them. He shouldn’t have some lanky know-it-all deny him. Head swimming, he sat up and glared as hard as his head would allow for. Glare at the man patiently holding out a package of pills and a glass. “Don’t worry. It’s just water. And after you take them, you will rest. And then you will eat. I have your schedule reorganized so that this can be accomplished without you losing out on anything.”

His gaze shifted to the cup. He had had the horror of tasting one of this man’s so called health drinks once before. He never wanted to again. He was unsure he could trust him now. But with his head the way it was, Atobe could only grab the pills from Inui’s hand and grab the glass with his other and down them both in one angry, huffy gulp. Slamming the glass down on the bedside table, which didn’t help his head at all, he groused. “Happy now? I want my cell.” He actually snapped his fingers and pointed at a spot on the bed he lay in. He didn’t think it would work. He was right. Instead, Inui just used his long legs to push the rolling chair back towards the computer desk.

“I will be happy when you rest. And perhaps once you are in a better mood, we can discuss this arrangement of ours. I think perhaps it would be best if we alter the agreement.”

Alter it? He sniffed disdainfully. Inui was going to be lucky if he didn’t call it off altogether for this stunt!

“I believe that what you need now is no longer a personal trainer but an efficiency expert. We will discuss my new role as your personal secretary after you rest.” The statement was made with such confidence that Atobe couldn’t help but feel that being around him had rubbed off on the intelligent man a little. He also found himself secretly agreeing that Inui was probably right as he nodded off again, surrounded by the man’s scent and the warmth of blankets.


	7. Chapter 6

The change of the arrangement they had made didn’t affect much in the way of Atobe’s life all that suddenly. He had already been doing many of the things he started doing after he took Inui on as a sort of aide-de-camp. Honestly, he supposed he could stop hiding their involvement. His father had had many personal secretaries, though obviously, they had not been enough to keep the man’s stress level down. The addition didn’t really change his corporate life much at all. Certainly, he had the same number of meetings and he had the same amount of conference calls. He had the same giant pile of paperwork on his desk as well. It was never ending as usual. The only thing changing Inui from “personal trainer” to “secretary” was that those things went a lot smoother. He even had time to start sleeping longer, even if the most restful sleep was the sleep he had when he came to Inui’s house and was lulled by the sound of Inui typing away. Inui’s bed, for some reason, was vastly more comfortable than his own. 

He even had time to eat. He got to enjoy full meals, even if it was late when he had them. Inui had given him healthy recipes to give to his chef. After business dinners where he got little, he could always expect to come home to an actual meal. He even sometimes took Inui to eat out. He found that he enjoyed the company. It was never fun to eat alone. It was never to the same spot twice and always at very odd times. He outwardly claimed it was to broaden Inui’s cultural and culinary horizons, but the truth was that Atobe didn’t want to the press to see him out and about with the other man. He didn’t want to ruin this precious time he stole in the other man’s company. Just as before this arrangement had to remain a secret. Not even the others at the Atobe Corporation needed to be made aware of the fact that he now had behind the scenes help. That he had a regular, standing date of sorts.

What was more, he even started to enjoy those stolen moments away from the pressure that was running an economic empire. Just like with tennis, being with Inui became a sort of outlet. They did still play, of course, but there were also those dinners and box seats to the Opera (just stay behind the curtain), and quiet games of chess in his manor’s large garden. He whisked Sadaharu off to conferences on thermodynamics and showered him with trips to Science Weekends and Math forums. He even started to enjoy the man’s intelligent, but sometimes awkward, non-sequesters. He found that the man actually had quite the cutting sense of humor. It was rather refreshing to see.

Somewhere along the way, he had even stopped using family names. Inui was just Sadaharu and he was Keigo. Just that alone took so much pressure off him. He didn’t have to be _Atobe_ in front of the man. He could just be Keigo. He found that if a week went by without talking to the other man, he started to grow stressed again. Those weeks, by the end of them, always found him at Sadaharu’s door or if somewhere more foreign, on his cell with him until 1 in the morning.

And that was when he knew.

That was when he knew he had started to fall in love. 

The realization hit him like one of Sanada’s Rai. It had come during an important business dinner with the Ambassador to China. He had been arguing vehemently with the man about zoning issues and some contract discrepancy when his thoughts drifted to the unwritten change to the contract he and Sadaharu had made. Which led to thinking of the genius who had entered his life. Which led to the sudden aching in his chest and the wish that the man was there. He wanted Sadaharu there. He wanted Sadaharu.

The notion went down better with a glass of champagne. Another glass had him considering what would occur if his “assistant” had the same feelings. A third glass had him wondering how he would go about finding out. A fourth had him deciding that something did need to be done, and the sooner the better. The fifth had him leaving the party, head spinning with the excitement of his realization. The destination in his mind was clear. Despite the amount of alcohol, he was thinking more clearly than he had in a long time. It made perfect sense to call a cab, and even more to have the driver drop him at Sadaharu’s place.

Everything would fall into place. He would allow for nothing else. The confidence he felt gave him a rush as he happily rung the bell. While he waited, he fiddled with his hair, trying to get it to lay just perfectly. He needed to look his best. He needed to knock this man off his feet. It was bolstered by the appearance of the man at the door, looking rather surprised. He had obviously not been expecting company.

“Keigo? What are you doing here? I thought your dinner party was supposed to go to midnight.” 

Atobe laughed lightly. At least he thought it was a laugh. The champagne had made it into a coy giggle. “Oh. I got bored and decided to call it a night early. I wasn’t getting anywhere anyway. Chun is such a crashing bore and I can think of a thousand things I want to be doing with my time.” He announced boldly, stepping through the door as if he owned the place. He was certain that Inui would shut it and follow his lead. His jacket hit the floor the second he walked through the door.

The man had, going to the large recliner to pick up his copy of Atobe’s little black book and start flipping through it. “I am afraid I can’t think of anything pressing that you need to attend to. This last week, your productivity has reached 115%. You have no more meetings until next Tuesday. The charity auction has been put on hold due to an investigation into how the charity itself uses the money.” As Inui rambled, Atobe slowly approached, lightly tugging his own tie down to loosen it. Stalking towards the man, he started to undo the buttons of his dress shirt, revealing his perfect, creamy skin underneath. “I will have that data to you by the weekend. By all calculations, you could best use this time to catch up on your rest and relaxation. I propose…”

Right in front of him, Atobe used a hand to push the book down. He rose onto his toes and planted a firm kiss onto those moving lips. “I propose you shut up.” His lips quirked a little after and he could see Inui’s brain shut down for a moment. He privately called those short moments Blue Screen of Death moments. They were rare, and they were actually sort of cute. But he knew Inui rebooted quickly. He had to strike while he still had the advantage.

His other hand pressed against the man’s surprisingly firm chest and he shoved a little, certain the chair behind him would catch his fall. He occupied that lap a moment later, one knee on either side of Inui’s legs, mouth already demanding another kiss. One he hadn’t realized hadn’t been returned to him. He was just too desperate right now; too emboldened. He took advantage of Inui’s slightly open mouth to plunder it. Keigo was no virgin. Junior High and High school had been quite the time. Between hormones and awakening sexualities and a blue haired tensai to take along in his pursuit of pleasure, he’d received quite the education. Perhaps he just had a glasses fetish. Glasses, that at the moment, he wanted to remove from the other, so he could see the man’s always hidden eyes. But he had other, more important things to remove first: like pants. He had seen Inui naked in the showers. He wanted to get his hands on the man’s slender body. He wanted to feel that nice long cock against his. Or better, he wanted it in him.

“I said.” He said between his searing, demanding kisses, “I had something better to do.” He started to pull at his own belt, squirming a little in Inui’s lap as he did. “You.” His belt wasn’t coming off easily, and his fingers fumbled on Inui’s jean fastener as well. Desire and dexterity were two different things. At the moment, he had a great deal of desire and very little of the other. All he knew was that he was flushed, and horny, and in love and only Inui was going to be able to solve any of those problems for him.

He was correct. Inui did reboot quickly. He could feel the man react to his hands at the zipper. Tongue returned play for a moment. Just a brief moment, Inui kissed him back. Large hands slid over his ass. He moaned and shifted more. He wanted this. He wanted Inui. Those hands shifted upwards. He felt a thrill when he got those pants undone and returned to his own. The damn belt would not behave for him, but at least Inui was now actively involved in this as well. Kissing him back, touching him. Hands slid up his seat of his trousers. His back. His shoulders. “Yes…” He breathed against those skilled lips, arching against that long, firm body. “Yes…”

Hands closed around his arms and suddenly Keigo wasn’t kissing anyone anymore. Still on Inui’s lap, flushed and needy, breathing hard, he stared at the other with desire in his eyes. Desire and confusion. He wanted this. Inui wanted this. He could feel it in those trousers. But Inui was shoving him away.

His voice was deeper than usual. Atobe knew it was desire. “How much did you drink at the party, Keigo. I can taste it. Four drinks?” He watched Inui’s tongue dart over his own lips. Atobe could imagine that tongue tasting over his body instead. He attempted to protest but Inui’s voice cut him off. “No. Five. The data doesn’t lie. You’re drunk. You can‘t be doing this. We can‘t be doing this.”

He frowned a little, his high leaving quite quickly. He wanted it back. He wanted that thrilling feeling back. His hands sought out the confines of Inui’s pants. “I’m not drunk.” He protested. “I’m fine. I know what I’m doing. And I know who I want to do it with. Don‘t tell me what I can and cannot have.” He felt a little rush when his hand slipped into those trousers to finally start to rub against the bulge in Inui’s undershorts. A growing bulge. “I can feel that someone agrees with me. How about we forget logic and let it decide what it wants, hmmm? I think it’s in ready agreement with mine.” He ground against the other man’s lap to let him feel just how much he wanted this.

A moan. A look of conflicting emotions and then Atobe was on his ass on the carpet. Inui had shoved him off his lap. He sat, a pile on the floor, panting and needy and utterly shocked. Inui. Had. Shoved. Him. “Keigo. No. We won’t be doing this.” The man stood and he could see him adjusting his crotch a little. He could feel nothing but empty, hollow defeat. He had been denied. He had been turned down. “I won’t be some drunken one night stand. I won’t be the sort of person that takes advantage of a drunk man. That is not the sort of person I am, 100%.” He walked to pick up Atobe’s coat and toss it over to him.

“Now, put your jacket back on and button yourself up. I’ll call you a cab.”

He could only sit there in shock. He felt like crying. He had been refused. Inui didn’t want him the way he wanted Inui. Inui didn’t love him the same way. Numbly, he obeyed. “See me tomorrow.” He whispered softly. “We can…terminate your contract then…” Not because he had been denied, but because Atobe didn’t think he could survive being in the same room as the man knowing that he didn’t feel the same way.

He heard a distant, logical, “All right.” before he was bundled out into the night and into the waiting cab. He didn’t even look back to see if Inui watched him go. Instead, he just returned to his lonely manner feeling empty and defeated. He couldn’t have Inui. He couldn’t. But he could still remember his feel. His taste. His touch. Even denial could not stop the lust and hunger he still felt. That night, he went to sleep with his cock in his hand and Inui’s name on his lips.


	8. Chapter 7

Atobe was in a foul mood. His staff avoided him the moment he walked into the office barking rather unreasonable orders. He knew what had happened the night before wasn’t their fault at all, but he still needed to let it out. Let it out before it ate him alive. He honestly wasn’t looking forward to the end of the day or Inui’s arrival, even if he did demand he come. He thought about calling and rescheduling their talk. He knew if he did that, he would just keep continuing to put it off. This had to happen. He had to end this. He didn’t have to like it, but it had to be done. At least Inui had the common sense not to show his face until after hours. After all, they both knew he was the sort of CEO that was the very last to leave the building at night and the first to arrive in the morning.

It gave him time to get the original contract in order. It gave him time to calm himself. He told himself he wouldn’t act as hurt as he felt when the man did arrive, but that was a lie. He wasn’t used to being denied and he had never had such a broken heart before. So when Inui did arrive and let himself into the top office of the Atobe Corporation headquarters, Atobe could only do his best. He faced his chair towards the large window that looked over the city, so that he didn’t have to see the man’s face. So he didn’t have to feel the stabbing pain in his chest. So he didn’t have to deal with the pending loss.

“I see you already have everything in order. I was actually awaiting your call to cancel this. I had predicted that you would.” Inui sounded just as hurt as he felt. Atobe wondered why. It wasn’t like he was losing anything. He could just go back to being and doing whatever it was before the Atobe Keigo walked into his life.

He left eye twitched and he almost turned around to yell at the man for assuming things about him again. He refrained and spoke as dismissively as possible. “Of course I do. I’m a busy man as are you. I intend to make this as painless as possible.” For himself. “It has come to my knowledge that there is a conflict of interests in regards to your continual association with myself.” The conflict being he was interested and Inui was not. “What happened last night was a severe breach of protocol and a violation of everything I try to hold dear. I regret it.” 

He could see Inui’s face reflected in the glass. He could see the intelligent man’s expression. That annoying calculating expression that told him the man was thinking too much. He had to continue. He had to do this. His voice was getting emotional. He had to get through this without breaking down. He had to disengage. He had to freeze. “That cannot happen again. That will not happen again. I must insure that it does not. However, the chance of such an occurrence happening again, as you usually put it, is around 100%. I cannot afford to deal with such. Because of this…” His heart was as frozen as his voice. “I am terminating your contract as of this date.” Dramatically, he took the papers and shoved them into a shredder. That was it. It was done. “I will be more than happy to give you good reviews to any employers that might wish to hire you. I enjoyed our time spent together, but this is what is the best for everyone concerned. Unless you have anything to say to me, you may go.” He found himself unconsciously mimicking Coach Sakaki’s little gesture of dismissal.

He waited to see Inui’s retreating back in the reflection from the windows. He waited and wondered if when Inui did leave, his heart would be as black and empty as the city beyond the glass. Instead, he was walking forward. Forward and around the desk. Atobe turned his chair to keep his back to the man. He didn’t want to deal with this. Dismissed people were supposed to leave his sight and never return. They weren’t supposed to approach him, even if he had invited the man to say something to him.

“So, in other words, I’m fired.” The man didn’t seem bothered by it. In fact, his voice seemed calm and perhaps a bit happy. He had learned to tell after the time he had spent with Inui. “You always did tend towards the theatrical, didn’t you, Keigo?” The chuckle he heard made him want to turn and just demand that Inui get the hell out. He stubbornly remained where he was. “Well, I believe that in the Atobe Corp Employee Handbook, it states on page 17, article 8, that a terminated employee can contest his firing.” Large hands rested on the back of his chair. “I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to quote Page 88, Paragraph 2, Section A. Employee dating policies: no employee can have a personal relationship with another employee who is their direct supervisor unless that relationship pre-existed before hiring. I can assume this was enacted to keep workplace affairs to a minimum.” He paused. Atobe assumed it was to let what he was saying sink it. However, for the life of him, he didn’t know what the man was getting at. They hadn’t been...he had never thought of it as... could it be that.... Atobe silently allowed himself to hope. 

“Since I no longer work for you, I can now properly date you.” He turned the chair and leaned down to give the blond a kiss.

Atobe was shocked to say the least. “Excuse me?” This was all he could say. He wondered if this was how Sadaharu felt the night before. Blindsided by the suddenness of it. Here, he had just dismissed the man and instead, he was being told that Inui wanted to date him. It was unexpected. It was wonderful and he didn’t know how to even handle such a thing, honestly. After thinking he had been denied, that he would never be allowed to get the one thing he wanted more than anything, he was being given just that. He couldn’t believe it. Even if every fiber of his being wanted to, he just couldn’t. Even though it was everything he had just hoped for, a part of him feared that the “but” or the “however” would soon come.

“Keigo.” The man’s large hand cupped his face, fingertip lightly brushing against his charm point a little. “We’ve been breaking the rules, your rules, for a while now. For nearly half a year by my calculations. I’d give you the numbers, but I know you don’t like it when I count things like that. But I have counted. We’ve had so many dates. Dinners, movies, trips. A half a year together.” He had no idea Inui had thought of them like that. Now that he looked back, it made a great deal of sense to him. He supposed, in a way, they had been dates. He wondered just when they had altered from outings with a friend to dates. “Dates against company policy. I chose to say nothing at the time because I enjoy our time together and wished it to continue. I still wish it to continue on a more personal level.”

He looked up at the man and frowned. He wanted to hear this but he could only deny with the truth of what he had felt the night before. “Then why push me away! I wanted you! You wanted me! It would have been so nice. You were the one that shoved me away. It didn’t matter that I loved you. You didn’t return the feeling… and now you’re here telling me this!” He stopped in his tirade because a fingertip pressed against his lips to shush him.

“It was because you were drunk. I won’t take advantage of a drunk person, regardless of how much I really wanted to. Because I care for you, I respect you more than that, Keigo. I didn’t want you to wake up in the morning, regretting anything we did because you weren’t in your right mind. And don’t argue with me. You know I’m right. Instead, let me propose a new arrangement.” He leaned down again, to give him another kiss. “I propose that we stop using your work as an excuse and actually, properly date. I propose we stop writing contracts and go with the data we know to be true about one another. I propose…”

Atobe reached up and looped his arms around Inui’s neck to pull him down into a proper kiss. “I propose you shut up and kiss me, ahn?”

Inui did shut up. He shut up and kissed. Kissing became touching. Touching became moaning. Clothing started to come off. He was lifted and put onto his desk, paperwork swept off onto the floor. Now Atobe could openly admire Inui’s body. Tall and slender but still strong. He wanted to touch all of it. Be touched by all of it. Inui displayed his prowess with his talented tongue and his thirst for firsthand knowledge. He soon has Keigo writhing on his desk, begging. Atobe wasn’t one to beg. He topped for the bottom, demanding and knowing just what he liked and how. He was happy to guide Inui’s search for those parts that made him weak and needy until he was reduced to moaning pleas to be taken, now. Pleas that, this time, were answered in a way he really wanted them to be. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have proper lube. He had hand lotion and for now, that was going to have to be good enough.

Inui’s cock was long and thick. It would take some preparation. Fingers coated with saliva and lotion pressed into him. They touched and prodded every place inside him. It hurt badly. He forced himself to take it, because he was certain that if he protested, Inui would stop and they would never…He wanted it and the pain would do away. He knew that. He knew it and that what made him want more. So much more. More and harder. Even though the desk was uncomfortably hard against his stomach, he wasn’t going to protest. Not now. Feeling Inui’s front pressed against his back was worth it. Feeling his fingers slip out and the blunt head of his cock pressed against his waiting hole was worth it. He took a deep breath and clenched his teeth.

His groan of pain was silenced by Inui’s moan of pleasure and the feel of connection. A connection he never felt before. He felt warm and full. He was definitely filled. Inui’s cock easily filled him and then some. It would take a lot more work to take all of it inside. He was willing to work for that. It seemed so was Inui, who took his sweet time, pulling nearly all the way out and then plunging inside a little more, each stroke a little deeper, each one a little harder until they had found their rhythm and Atobe’s grunts of pain turned into cries of pleasure. Each thrust shifting his desk just slightly as he moved back against the man filling him with so much pleasure.

Being bent over his own desk wasn’t enough. He needed more. He needed deeper. He loudly expressed that desire in a passionate cry. For his effort, he felt Inui pull out of him. He protested. He wanted that in him. They weren’t done yet! Inui just chuckled and maneuvered him over to the window. There he was picked up. His legs were lifted and once again, Inui entered him, this time without any pauses or hesitations. Just a hard even thrust that made his head fall back with a cry. Naked back pressed against the cold window for support, his legs wrapped around Inui’s slender hips. Inui pushed into him with long hard strokes. Better. Much better. His cries were silenced by a mouth and tongue that wouldn’t leave until every part of his mouth had been mapped. Their passion filled his office with the scent of sex. 

But it still wasn’t enough. This time, Inui decided that. Inui carefully dropped them to the floor. One more time, he was entered, a leg now thrown over Inui’s shoulder so the man could get the absolute perfect angle. He reached between Keigo’s legs and jacked him off. Pounded into the floor, with Inui’s tongue in his mouth, Inui’s hand around his dick, and Inui’s cock in his ass brushing against his prostate with each hard thrust, Atobe came hard. Arching violently, filling Inui’s hand with white. Inside him, he could feel Inui follow suit, filling his insides. There was no need for a contract; Inui had just placed his marks just where they needed to go.

After, no words were spoken. Atobe called a car while Inui redressed them both. That car took Inui home to his giant manor house. They had sex twice more. Once in his large bath, Atobe straddling Inui, riding him like he was a wild stallion, and once again in his large bed. Atobe had fallen asleep with his lover at his side, the man’s passion seeping out of him.


	9. Chapter 8

That had been a year ago. In that year, Atobe, with Inui’s help, had streamlined the company to run in a way that gave him time to run off at the drop of a hat. The board members assumed that he was going off to see some girlfriend, since when he left, he was always in the best of moods and when he came back, he was even more cheery. They were demanding to meet her soon. Plus it was about time for him to marry and produce an heir of his own. The pressure was on. He didn’t feel it though, because he had his little secret affair to keep him sane. After a year of dating out of the public eye, Atobe did feel bad about keep this a secret. He wanted to tell the world about his wonderful, intelligent, passionate boyfriend. A man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He hated having to sneak around to be with his own lover. But he did because he didn’t want Sadaharu to have to suffer life under a microscope. The spotlight was rarely ever off Atobe and he didn’t want Inui to suffer with him. Besides, he was selfish.

Snuggling against the man a little, he smiled. He wanted to keep Inui all to himself for just a bit longer. Plus, there was something a bit exhilarating about having a secret lover. That also meant having to leave before dawn in order to pretend that he hadn’t been with the man. Something he was equally reluctant to do. And something Inui seemed also equally reluctant to have him do. As he moved to get out of their sometimes shared bed, he felt long fingers grasp around his arm and pull him back. Inui had been awake all this time. He must have been just pretending to be asleep. Of course he had. He was certain that the man had been studying him as he studied Inui. 

“Not this time, Keigo. Today, your schedule is perfectly clear. I already saw to that with your new secretary. I knew asking Kabaji to help with this would be to our advantage. So come back to bed.” He was pulled back into the man’s embrace. Being selfish was perfectly okay. Eventually, it would come out, and he would make sure the world knew about his love life in the most spectacular way possible, but for right now, at least until afternoon brunch, he was happy keeping his secret a little while longer.


End file.
